The Tale of Hestia
by Moira Lathal
Summary: Story about adventure, love, and home. I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS FROM PJO, but i DO own my own; Lai and Laura, for example, and any others. Please feel free to comment, blah blah blah, enjoy thanks.


(I'm still working on the title)

By

Moira Lathal

Chapter One: Persephone's Request

Hello. My name is Hestia. You may know me because of Percy Jackson. I am the Greek goddess of the hearth, home, and the last place you would think you had your courage. Some of you would call me the Last Olympian. What you do NOT know about me is that I can do more than I seem capable of. I do love peace, and I do not like fighting, but I will fight for what is right, and sometimes I will fight for the sake of love. Aphrodite, the little twit, knows nothing of what home can bring. My little tales are probably something that you would dream, but of course what would **I** know? I'm just a goddess.

It all really FIRST began when Persephone, Demeter's daughter, walked up to me on Olympus. I do admit I was rather flustered when she skipped up to me on Olympus that fine day. I was reading a home-makeover book Aphrodite had suggested to me when she sat down next to me in a very cheerful manner.

"Hello, Hestie!" she said, smiling her big, summer smile. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"If this is about those tulips you tried to grow, I refuse, once again, to ask Zeus to put him on trial," I replied, pointing down at a shriveled up patch of flowers. Ares had been playing catch with a couple of river gods, and the fireball they were playing with landed in poor Persephone's garden. She'd been asking me and the other gods for weeks to help her sue him. Hades had nearly said yes until Ares offered to take a night shift for a while in the Underworld. Hades was happy, but Ares got stuck in the Underworld for months until Demeter just called him a silly idiot and set him loose.

"Oh, that?" she laughed. "I'm over that now. At least Ares got what was coming to him. Anyway, I was wondering if you could go get something for me."

I raised my eyebrow, aware that Hades was just a way off, and he was glancing in our direction. "Does this have anything to do with Hades? He doesn't look to happy."

Persephone fidgeted. "No... and yes... I just need this to be between just us, ok?"

"Why?"

"Because," she stuttered, glancing nervously in her husband's direction, "Hades wouldn't be very happy if he found out about..." she stopped. Hades had come to join us. "Hello, ladies," he said, placing his silky hand on Persephone's shoulder.

"Hello, dear," she replied, smiling a very forced smile. "Can we help you?"

"Oh, not really, I just wanted to see how you were doing," he said, smiling a cold smile that told me he was up to something. "Why don't we go have some lunch? I hear Zeus let him go from that little human's camp to make some of his finest wine for us."

"Oh, how lovely," she replied, giving me an "I'll talk to you later" look.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Persephone finally got to asking me. At first, I was a little skeptical.

"Why can't you get a satyr to find them? I mean, that's what they DO."

"Yes," she replied, "but they also have big mouths. They look up to Dionysus, so they would tell him. Naturally, he would tell Zeus, just to see what happens. Zeus would have ME in court, and Hades would be furious. So that's why," she concluded, satisfied that I was officially hooked.

"I see. Well, why don't you ask one of the OTHER goddesses to find them?"

"Well," she said, "Aphrodite also has a big mouth, my mother would tell Zeus, Hera has a big mouth, Artemis would try to cling to Laura, and I do not want a repeat of Bianca and Nico."

"What about Athena?" I asked.

"I thought of her, but then I remembered that Athena, like most of the other goddesses, would tell Zeus."

"All right. I guess I see your point. But... I don't fight! I wouldn't be able to protect your children if a monster attacked! And if they say a pomegranate tree, how could I stop them?"

Persephone glared at me. "You do not see me laughing, Hestia, because that was not amusing. I was ABOUT to say that I trusted you because you, the goddess of the hearth, home, etcetera, would keep my children from becoming a child of Hades. I don't want that again." She sighed. For a brief moment, I felt sorry for her. Then the feeling faded.

"What if Hades finds out?" I asked, ringing my hands nervously.

"Oh, he won't," Persephone replied, though her eyes told me she wasn't so sure of that. "Just do this one little favor for me, and I'll do anything you ask."

"How about not asking any more favors?"

"That might be a little difficult."

I sighed. "All right. Where are they?"

"In a little town in Western Washington, under the names of Lai and Laura Sphinx. Their father is Brian Sphinx. He is an agricultural expert."

"I guess that makes sense," I muttered.

"Their names are Lai and Laura," Persephone continued. "When you get to camp Half-Blood, could you tell... that daughter of Athena... oh, what's her name..."

"Annabeth."

"Annabeth that I need a cabin," she finished. "My children will NOT be stuck in Hermes's cabin. That silly fool, he can't even decide what he's the god of."

So that was why I was wandering around Western Washington that day. It was a very hot day in July; young children were having water-gun fights in their yards, women in running shorts were walking their dogs. I passed a small girl and her mother selling lemonade on the sidewalk. I smiled as the little girl yelled in a squeaky voice, "Want some 'nade, Mam?"

"Why, thank you, little lady," I replied, handing her mother a ten one hundred dollar bill and taking a small cup. "Keep the change and get that Jacuzzi," I told her, grinning at her astounded face. I continued on my way, stopping here and there, laughing with the little children, so safe, so close to home. I finally reached my destination: the home of Brian Sphinx. As I walked up the walkway, I took in everything around me. They had a very sizeable garden, with almost every flower known to mankind (and god kind) blossoming in it. On either side of the walkway, two humongous apple trees stood, their fruit large and ripe. To the right was a little birdbath, and little robins were playing in it, splashing and squirting water at eachother. I finally reached the front door. I took a deep breath, and then knocked.


End file.
